Duckhams Yuasa Racing with Redline ready to build on success at Carrera Cup midway point
Front-running Porsche Carrera Cup GB outfit Duckhams Yuasa Racing with Redline is set for the halfway point in the 2022 season this weekend, as the series travels north to Knockhill in Scotland.
The twisting, tricky, and challenging 1.3-mile circuit, located near Dunfermline, provides one of the toughest tests on the calendar for both teams and drivers, with small margins making all the difference.
One of the highlights for both fans and drivers is the chicane which is steeply uphill and blind on entry. Those who get it right will be on for an excellent lap time, but a small margin either side can lose competitors time either on the kerb or running wide into the gravel.
Adam Smalley, fresh off a busy few weekends where he represented Porsche at the Goodwood Festival of Speed as well as making his debut in the Porsche Supercup at Silverstone, sits third in the championship standings just a handful of points away from top spot and will be looking to continue his run of podium finishes at every round.
Oliver White's start to his maiden Porsche Carrera Cup GB season hasn't lived up to his expectations, but is relishing his first visit to Knockhill having spent time on the simulator learning the circuit ahead of the visit.
Both drivers will be able to take advantage of an official Porsche test day on Wednesday 27th July, before two free practice sessions on Friday. There is one single qualifying session on Saturday, with two 32 lap races on Sunday 31st at 09:40 and 15:05 – the latter broadcast live on ITV4 and ITV Hub.
Adam Smalley, #21
The nature of Knockhill is tight and twisty. It's a one-off circuit and there's nothing quite like it really. With it being such a short lap, the margin is going to be very, very tight. It's a circuit that I do enjoy, and I had a very strong result there last year in the GT4 Supercup, qualifying on pole and winning two of three races. That was probably one of the best weekends of last year, so that's filling me with confidence going into this race weekend
You've only got to look at the races so far this year – there's so much competition, there's been loads of overtaking, it's a close championship, and going into Knockhill where it's the second shortest circuit, we're all going to be separated by thousandths of a second. It's going to be close but I'm looking forward to it. Fingers crossed, we can have a strong and productive day on the Wednesday for the official test and that will prepare us nicely coming into the weekend.
It's a circuit that all of us drivers enjoy and people spectating love it as well. There are not many circuits where you fly through the air at the chicane, so I'm really looking forward to taking the Type 992 GT3 Cup car around there. No one's had the chance to test there because of where it is, so you don't really cover it in your pre-season programme. It will be new for us all on the Wednesday, but I'm sure with the team at Redline we can put out with strong package.
Oliver White, #2
Knockhill is a track I've not been to before, so I'm really looking forward to it. I love driving new tracks and it looks quite exciting. I've done some work on the simulator and there are lots of high kerbs, camber changes, and gradient changes, so it looks really fun. We have all day testing on Wednesday, which is just for Porsche, and then we have two practice sessions on the Friday.
Everyone's kind of in the same boat, learning the place in the new car, so it's going to be about who learns the fastest and masters the car over the chicane. The kerbs are very high, and they can damage the splitters, so I don't know what's going to happen with that, but it should be interesting. It's very easy to lose a lot of time at the chicane, for example. If you just brake slightly early or too late, you lose probably half a second.
I haven't made it into the points yet, but hopefully, I can build on that and score points at Knockhill. I'll keep improving my results as the year goes on and, hopefully, by the end of the year, I’ll be properly in the top ten and maybe challenging for podiums.
